Coal Industry Act 1973

5 Reimbursement of Board's contributions towards increased pensions

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, the Secretary of State may, out of moneys provided by Parliament, make payments to the Board reimbursing to the Board the whole or part of the amount of the Board's contributions towards benefits payable under the mineworkers' pension scheme, in so far as those contributions—

(a) are attributable to any approved increase in those benefits, and

(b) are contributions towards benefits payable in respect of any part of the period beginning on 1st April 1973 and ending with the financial year of the Board which comes to an end in March 1976 or, if the Secretary of State by order so directs, ending with the financial year of the Board which comes to an end in March 1978.

(2) The aggregate amount of the payments made by the Secretary of State under this section—

(a) if an order is made under subsection (1)(b) of this section, shall not exceed £40 million, or

(b) if no such order is made, shall not exceed £25 million.

(3) For the purpose of exercising his powers under subsection (1) of this section, the Secretary of State shall consult the Board before determining whether to reimburse to the Board the whole of the amount referred to in that subsection or to reimburse to the Board part and, if so, what part of that amount; and no such determination shall be made except with the approval of the Treasury.

(4) For the purposes of this section the amount of the Board's contributions towards benefits payable under the mineworkers' pension scheme shall be taken to be such amount as is certified in that behalf by the auditors of the Board; and the proportion of that amount which is attributable to an approved increase in those benefits shall for those purposes be taken to be such proportion as is certified by those auditors to be so attributable.

(5) So much of the contributions made by the Board as is reimbursed under this section shall not be treated as relevant expenditure for the purposes of section 3 of the Act of 1965.

(6) In this section—

(a) " the mineworkers' pension scheme " means any scheme established under that name by the Board in pursuance of regulations made under section 37 of the Act of 1946, in the form in which any such scheme (whether as originally established or as subsequently amended) is for the time being in force ; and

(b) any reference to an approved increase in the benefits payable under the mineworkers' pension scheme is a reference to any amount by which, in consequence of any amendment made with the approval of the Secretary of State before, on or after 1st April 1973 and coming into force on or after that date, the amount of the benefits of any description so payable is greater than it would have been in accordance with the mineworkers' pension scheme as in force immediately before that date.